Day 73
But let him ask in faith, without wavering. For he who wavers is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed with the wind. James 1:6 MEV
I’ve learned to trust that the Lord has heard me when I pray, that He will somehow get through to me, in spite of my wayward ways, even wisdom when I need it, all because He is that good and I trust Him.
Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he is tried, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. James 1:12 MEV
When I was asking the Lord about what is in it for me when I say no to sin, apart from eternal life; for it seemed like forced labor to me, like I have no other choice if I want to get to heaven, trying somehow to hold on, the Lord spoke to me through this verse that my approach, my attitude was all wrong, that it is all about who God is, that we need to have faith. He has promised us the crown of life.
Psalm 16:11 NKJV You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
for the anger of man does not work the righteousness of God. James 1:20 MEV
This verse often helped me curb my temper tantrums.
What does it profit, my brothers, if a man says he has faith but has no works? Can faith save him? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. James 2:14, 17 MEV
In other words, if you say that you have faith in Christ, obey His word. Do something with your faith, that you say you have, that bears the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Faith saves only when confession is made and adhered to by faith. We can make that confession boldly because of God’s amazing grace. Knowledge of/from the Bible just makes one an armchair scholar, but faith in Jesus Christ moves mountains. Don’t be a dead hypocrite.
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. James 3:17 MEV
Open to reason does not in any way imply any sort of compromise on the word of God. Wisdom from God will make sense from the logic and reasoning of the word of God.
Day 74
You adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that the friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. James 4:4 MEV
God considers friendship with the world as adultery. Enmity with God is a strong term, but the sooner we understand that God sees it that way, the better of we will be. Many prayers are unanswered simply because we ask “amiss”, that in reality servers our own agenda and passions. Yet in all these things, all we have to do is have hope that if we ask one heavenly Father according to His will, for our good, then He will not only supply all our needs as we give, but also give us the desires of our heart as we delight in Him. Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
But He gives more grace. For this reason it says: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6 MEV
Amen. This much is true. I’ve seen even the grace to hear from Him taken away from the proud, and Him jump over obstacles to reach and touch the humble.
Therefore submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to ¬dejection. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. James 4:7-10 MEV
I find this applicable now as we speak, where I have to humbly submit to God, knowing that I was wrong, resist the devil and his temptations, purify my heart by renewing my mind again with the word of God, so that I’m not in any way double-minded when it comes to the things of God. Yes sir, this has been a lesson in learning for me, but such is life, for we are all a work in progress. In the Old Testament, whenever the priests entered the tabernacle and approached the altar to minister to the Lord, they were required to cleanse their hands and feet with water from the bronze basin (see my notes on the ” Tabernacle prayer”). We cleanse our hands by removing them from sinful pursuits and moral compromises and then seeking God’s forgiveness. As his grace allows me to cleanse my hands, to wash off the dust of the world, the devil flees from me and you. Hallelujah!
Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, it is sin. James 4:17 MEV
Following this ideology changed my life.
Brothers, if any one of you strays from the truth and someone corrects him, let him know that he who converts the sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins James 5:19-20 MEV
This is why we are brothers in arms, armed with the word of God. To give hope where there is none.